The discovery of the silicon microchip has led to an exponential growth in the production of affordable computers. Computers are now being used in schools, in large and small businesses and in an ever increasing number of homes. The majority of these computers utilize visual display terminals such as cathode ray tubes which are relatively small in overall dimension.
The display on these terminals is likewise very small and often a very bright color. In order to clearly see and distinguish the characters on the terminal, an operator typically sits very close to the screen. The diminutive characters and their bright, almost fluorescent coloring often leads to extreme eye strain as well as headaches for the operator. Also, the operator may need frequent breaks away from the screen to avoid or relieve eye strain, resulting in reduced productivity. Moreover, recent news articles suggest that there may be a link between the proximity of the operator to the visual display terminal and an increased number of fetal miscarriages among pregnant terminal operators. It will thus be appreciated that there is yet a need for magnifying the characters on a visual display terminal to reduce operator eye strain and to increase the distance between the operator and the terminal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,618 issued to Tall discloses a book rest including a flat screen magnifier supported so as to be slidably adjustable in relation to the book page. However, this patent neither teaches nor suggests using the flat screen magnifier on a visual display terminal.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing a holder for positioning a flat screen magnifier on a computer terminal. The holder comprises means for retaining the magnifier and means for supporting and extensibly positioning the magnifier in relation to the terminal. These and other advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the drawings, discussion and description and claims which follow.